Rail retaining device



Jan. 10, 1939. F, GMLOR 21,143,374

RAIL RETAINING DEVCE Filed April 1e, 1955 CII Patented Jan. 10, 1939 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFECE 1 Claim.

My invention relates to track construction and more particularly to rail retaining devices to be used in solid monolithic types oi track construction thoroughly encased in concrete, for use principally in modern electric railway track construction as, for example, street surface tracks, tracks in tunnels, subways, and the like. It is understood that such track construction has little or nothing in common with railroad track construction which uses ties, tie-plates, and ballast, and that the problems incident to laying rails, repairing them, stresses due to temperature changes, rail movement, gauge maintenance, weight of rolling stock, and the like are entirely different in the two types of track construction.

An object of the present invention is to provide simple, inexpensive, and easily installed means to firmly hold the rails in proper position, gauge, and alignment, on angles, channels, or other transverse supporting members while tracks of the nature described are being constructed and the concrete poured.

A further object is to provide a rail retaining device of suicient holding power which will grip the rail to which it is applied, well back from the edge of the rail base at a point in the rail section where there is suicient steel to insure that rigidity and strength results.

A still further object is to provide a rail-secur ing clip of a configuration readily manufactured at a low cost and of suicient strength to rigidly clamp and wedge the rail to the transverse track support member during the process of construction and concrete embedding, and which may be simply applied by merely striking it with a hammer.

With the foregoing and other objects in view as will be apparent, my invention resides in the combination and arrangement of parts and in the details and methods of construction described in this specification and particularly pointed out in the appended claim. I intend no limitation other than those of the claim, it being understood that changes may be made within the scope of what is claimed without departing from the spirit of the invention.

In the drawing, presented for illustrative purposes only,

Fig. 1 is a sectional elevation across an embedded track of the construction described and which embodies the present invention;

Fig. 2 is an enlarged portion of Fig. l, showing one rail to more clearly illustrate certain details of the invention;

Fig. 3 is a still greater enlargement, perhaps (Cl. 23S-349) twice natural size, of a portion of Fig. l to show more clearly further details of my present invention, including the shape ,of a preferred form of rail-securing clip; and

Fig. 4 is a section to a reduced scale, on the line 5 4-4 of Fig. 3.

Like reference characters indicate like parts throughout the drawing.

In Fig. 1 is shown a track construction of the type to which the present invention most readily is adapted. Rails I9, l0, are spaced to gauge and rest directly on a transverse member 9 which, in this embodiment, is of angle form, as shown in Fig. 4, but may be of channel or other section. In transverse member 9 suitable openings 8 are 15 punched, all or a portion of the metal punched out at each opening 8 being preferably struck upwards laterally to form a shoulder 'l adjacent each side of each rail, most clearly shown in Fig. 3, dotted, and in Fig. 4. Each pair of shoulders 1, 1, thus position a rail and the two pair of shoulders on a single transverse member 9 will position a pair of spaced rails, and hold them against lateral movement.

Rails l0, lll, are then firmly secured to the 25 transverse member 9 by means of U-shaped, resilient rail-securing clips 6, 6, preferably a pair of clips to each rail on each transverse member, a clip being positioned in each opening 8 punched out when the adjacent shoulder 1 is formed. Such clips wedge the rails I0, I0, firmly in place against the transverse member 9 in a manner described further in detail below, while the entire structure is embedded in concrete, as at 5, to form a monolith construction. It is to be noted that in such construction there is normally no rail movement relative to the transverse member. The resilient nature of the material of the clips 6, 6, therefore, is merely to facilitate putting them in place and has no purpose of permitting rail movement.

My preferred clip 6 is formed of stock or rod of circular section bent into hair-pin form or U- shape, one leg 4 being longer than the other and the two legs being slightly divergent, as indicated in the dotted position of Fig. 3. The ends of both legs are flattened as at 3, 3, to give a bearing surface and the mid-portion 2 is left of circular section for a purpose hereinafter described.

In Fig. 3 the dotted line shows the original clip formation and the full line indicates the extent to which the legs of clip 6 are opened by wedging of the clip onto the slant surface I of the rail base. This wedging action rmly holds each rail Il] against the transverse member 9.

In assembling, after the two rails are laid between the pairs of shoulders 1, 1, a clip is introduced into each opening 8 by a hooking movement with the clip parallel to the rail edge. The clip is then turned in the opening 8 as a bearing, until the ends of the legs engage the slant base and the under side of the transverse member. The clip is then wedged up on to the slant rail base I, usually by striking leg 4 with a hammer, until clip E is at right angles to the rail, or thereabouts. The round section of the mid-portion permits the clip to rotate Within the opening 8, the diameter of the round section 2 being not greatly different from the width of the opening 8, whereby the clip may snugly fit the opening while it is being forced into place.

, Opening 8 may, however, be slightly longer than the diameter of the round mid-section 2 of clip 6 in order to facilitate the introduction of the clip into the opening in the rst instance.

I am aware that resilient members and clips of Various kinds have been devised to resiliently fasten rail to tie-plates so that the rail is free to move up and down, the tie-plates being spiked to a tie, but what I claim is:

Rail retaining means in track construction, comprising a transverse track support member, a pair of spaced shoulders for each rail struck up laterally of the adjacent rail from the material of the transverse member whereby providing a rectangular opening in said transverse member adjacent each shoulder at the base thereof and laterally aligned with the inner edge thereof, a pair of rails spaced to gauge by said shoulders and supported by said transverse member, each rail being positioned between two of said spaced shoulders whereby to hold each rail against lateral movement, a pair of U-shaped resilient rail-securing drive clips for each rail, each of said clips being provided with a circular mid-section and flattened ends of unequal length, the mid-portion of each clip being positioned in an opening in said transverse member with the longer end of said clip adapted and arranged to be wedged upon the adjacent rail base by rotating said clip and the shorter end of said clip contacting the under surface of said transverse member whereby to clamp said pair of rails firmly to said transverse member when said clips are rotated.

CHESTER F. GAILOR. 

